Aly lost her penguin stuffed animal that we bought her at the aquarium last month...and you all know how attached she is to ALL of her stuffed animals. We searched the house high and low, called the barber shop where she had been with Dan, the McDonald's by Hoover Dam and retraced all of our steps. Luckily, Aly was great about it and we told her we would get a new one from the Zoo.
So, after school on Tuesday, we decided to go to the zoo to get it. We knew we were going to be cutting in close since we left here at 5 and they closed at 6, but we didn't have a choice. Of course, there was an accident on 270 so we barely moved for about 10 miles before it cleared out. By this point it was after 5:30 and I thought there was NO way we were going to make it on time. Then we hit the Sawmill Rd. exit and it was nearly stopped due to rush hour traffic (which is no surprise). Thanks to Dan's 'defensive driving' we made it to Hard Rd. with about 10 minutes 'til closing (and at least that in driving time left!!), knowing full well that if they didn't let us in the gates we were in for a VERY long night! Dan disregards all the traffic signs throughout the zoo parking lot headed straight for the handicap spots. He is almost jumped out as the van came to a stop, grabbed Aly and ran towards the gate...it was literally 5:58!! I jumped in the driver's seat, parked the car, grabbed Hannah and head towards the gate to meet them. I, by the way, can't run because I was so incredibly nauseous from the horrible skilled driving there that I was about ready to puke. As I approached the gates, the guy was covering the ticket scanner for the night. I explained that I just needed to go to the gift shop and he -reluctantly- lets me in. THANK GOD!
Aly perused the stuffed animal collection and made her selection. Hannah, of course, wanted the same one. Luckily the weren't too horribly expensive and with our zoo member discount we paid under $30 for them both!
Aly perused the stuffed animal collection and made her selection. Hannah, of course, wanted the same one. Luckily the weren't too horribly expensive and with our zoo member discount we paid under $30 for them both!
Knowing that we could not get back in the car for another hour of traffic after only 10 minutes in the gift shop, Dan told some lame story to a zoo employee about the girls 'losing a cup' by the elephants and they let us go 'search' for it. We finally were able to slow down and breathe! We looked at a few animals before heading to the car. The girls were hugging their new penguins and actually bouncing and dancing through the park!!
The ride home was almost as good as the ride there. Even though we didn't hit much traffic, Hannah screamed the ENTIRE way home...all 45 minutes of it! We finally got home around 7:30 and I made dinner. What a night!!
Even though it was stressful and silly that we had to take 2.5 hours on a school night chasing down a penguin (not to mention breaking traffic laws and lying to zoo employees), it was totally worth it to see the joy on Alyssa and Hannah's faces!! it is amazing the things you will do for your kids! And now we have a great story to go with it!!
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